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How    Abraham    Lincoln 
Became  President 


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By  J.   McCan   Davis 


Centennial  Edition 


1809  -  1909 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


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How 
Abraham  Lincoln 
Became  President 


Centennial  Edition 


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ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT. 
From  an  old  steel  engraving,  after  a  photograph  by  Brady. 


How  Abraham  Lincoln 
Became  President 


By  J.  McCAN  DAVIS 

Author  of  "  The  Breaking  of  the  Deadlock,"  "  Abraham  Lincoln 

His  Book/*  etc. 


Centennial   Edition 


THE   ILLINOIS   COMPANY 

SPRINGFIELD.  ILLINOIS 

1909 


Copyright,  1909 

by 
J.  McCan  Davis 


Engravings  made  by  the  Capitol  Engraving  Company, 
Springfield,  Illinois 


Press  of  the  Henry  O.  Shepard  Company 


'^1^  •^Z.^3 


To  the  Soldiers  of  the  Civil  War, 

Comrades  of  My  Father, 

the  heroic  men  who  offered  their  lives  that 

'*  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people 

shall  not  perish  from  the  earth/* 


/M     Cccu^^'^' 


CMXx-^ 


Foreword. 


Abraham  Lincoln  was  in  no  sense  an  accident.  His 
nomination  for  President  in  i860  surprised  the  country. 
Yet  it  was  the  logical  result  of  a  series  of  events  that  had 
extended  over  a  period  of  many  years.  This  was  not 
wholly  clear  then,  but  it  is  plain  enough  now.  It  is  the 
purpose  of  this  little  volume  to  tell  briefly  the  story  of 
his  preparation  for  his  colossal  task  and  of  the  events 
that  made  him,  almost  inevitably,  as  it  now  seems.  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  nation. 

There  have  been  many  great  men  in  the  world,  and 
the  future  will  bring  forth  more  great  men.  But  the 
world  has  produced  only  one  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  we 
may  not  expect  another  in  all  the  generations  yet  unborn. 
The  product  of  an  age,  he  belongs  to  all  ages. 

J.  McC.  D. 
Springfield,  Illixois, 

October  24,  1908. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter  I  —  Dreams  of  a  Boy  in  the  Wilderness 17 

Chapter  II  —  Foundation  of  Greatness  in  a  Frontier  Village 21 

Chapter  III — A  Prophecy  —  "Might  Be  Governor  Some  Day"..  24 

Chapter  IV  —  Quits  Politics  —  Contentment  "on  the  Circuit" 27 

Chapter  V  —  The  Awakening  —  "  Back  Into  Politics  " 31 

Chapter  VI  —  Fame  Grows  —  "  Lincoln  for  Vice-President  " 35 

Chapter  VII  —  The  New  Issue  —  "A  House  Divided  " 41 

Chapter  VIII  —  Lincoln-Douglas     Debates  —  Antagonists,     Personal 

Friends 46 

Chapter  IX  —  Lincoln's  Question   at   Freeporl  —  the  Answer 50 

Chapter  X  —  After  the  Debates  —  A  Presidential   Possibility 53 

Chapter  XI  —  "What's  the  Use  Talking  of  Me  for  President?  "..  56 

Chapter  XII  —  Lincoln   Sees   "Fighting   Chance"  —  Wants    Illinois 

Delegation   58 

Chapter  XIII  —  Story  of  a  Fence  Rail  —  Convention  Stampeded..  63 

Chapter  XIV  —  Seward    Almost   a   Certainty  —  "  Lincoln    Looming 

Up  " 73 

Chapter  XV  —  The  National  Convention  —  Lincoln  the  Victor ....  85 

Chapter  XVI  —  "  Farewell  "     93 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PACE 

Abraham   Lincoln    as    President Frontispiece 

The   Author    10 

Site  of   Abraham   Lincoln's   Birthplace 16 

The  Emigration  from  Kentucky 20 

Grave   of    Lincoln's    Mother 23 

Lincoln  Cabin  in   Indiana 26 

Little  Pigeon  Baptist  Church,  Spencer  County,  Indiana 28 

Lincoln  Home  in  the  Sangamon  Bottom,  Near  Decatur,  111.,  in   1830.  30 

New  Salem    34 

An    Election    Return  —  Lincoln's   First   Official   Document 36 

Abraham  Lincoln   in    1858 40 

Stephen   A.    Douglas 44 

Gov.  Richard  J.  Oglesby 62 

Oglesby  and  Hanks  Bringing  the  Rails  from  the  Sangamon  Bottom.  .  64 

John    Hanks    66 

Lincoln  Addressing  Decatur  Convention,    1860 68 

Gen.   John    M.    Palmer 70 

The   Chicago   Wigwam 72 

"A   Rail   Old   Western   Gentleman" 76 

Great  Lincoln  Rally,   1860 79 

Lincoln    Home,   Springfield,    1860 84 

Lincoln's   Departure   from   Springfield 86 

Lincoln's    First    Inauguration,    1861 88 

President   Lincoln   and    Llis   Cabinet 92 


A  TRIBUTE. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  a  deity.  It  is  among  the  glories 
of  the  human  race  that  he  was  a  man.  He  stands  on  a  pinnacle 
alone,  the  greatest  man  in  our  history  —  the  most  wondrous  man 
of  all  the  ages.  The  world  will  forever  marvel  at  his  origin  and 
his  career.  Whence  came  this  wondrous  man?  Back  of  Lin- 
coln —  generations  before  he  was  born  —  events  happened 
which  helped  to  shape  and  mold  his  destiny.  No  man  escapes 
this  inheritance  from  the  past.  We  can  not  know  what  seeds 
were  sown  a  thousand  years  ago.  We  can  not  see  far  beyond 
the  log  cabin  in  the  Malderness  of  Kentucky.  He  came  to  us 
with  no  heritage  save  the  heart  and  the  brain  which  came  from 
the  fathomless  deeps  of  the  unknown. 

He  was  endowed  with  that  divine  gift  of  imagination  which 
enabled  him  to  behold  the  future.  The  emancipation  proclama- 
tion loomed  in  his  mind  when,  as  an  unknown,  friendless  youth, 
he  stood  on  the  levee  in  New  Orleans  and  saw  a  slave  auction 
thirty  years  before  the  Civil  War.  As  he  sat  in  the  White 
House  he  saw  beyond  battles,  beyond  the  end  of  the  war, 
beyond  the  restoration  of  peace,  a  reunited  country  —  the 
grandest  nation  on  the  globe,  under  a  single  and  triumphant 
flag,  moving  down  the  centuries  to  its  glorious  destiny. 

—  From  the  oration  on  "The  Two  Giants  of  Illinois,"  by 
J.  McCan  Davis. 


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CHAPTER    I. 

THE  DREAMS  OF  A  BOY  IN   THE  WILDERNESS. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  Abraham  Lincohi,  a  Httlc  boy 
in  Kentucky,  dreamed  that  some  day  he  would  be  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  Such  has  been  the  dream  of 
many  another  American  boy,  inspired  by  the  hopeful 
encouragement  of  a  fond  mother.  But  the  chances  are 
that  the  mind  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  boy,  did  not  soar 
so  far  away  as  the  White  House  in  Washington. 

When  Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  (February  12, 
1809),  this  nation  was  yet  very  young.  A  great  many 
things  were  to  be  demonstrated.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence,  whose  author  was  still  living,  was  the  most 
vital  thing  of  the  time,  proclaiming  this  the  land  of 
equality  and  opportunity.  Yet  not  many  had,  as  very 
many  came  to  have  in  later  years,  the  magnificent  concep- 
tion of  the  limitless  possibilities  that  lie  before  every 
American  youth. 

The  new  republic  had  chosen  its  best  and  its  greatest 
men  to  fill  the  high  office  of  President.  But  none  had 
been  what  the  world  has  since  come  to  call  a  '*  self-made 
man."  Washington,  Adams,  Jeflferson,  Madison  —  all 
had  been  of  gentle  birth,  all  had  been  respectably  edu- 
cated in  the  way  decreed  by  the  custom  of  the  time. 

Although  it  was  the  shibboleth  of  the  new  republic 
that  "  all  men  are  created  equal,"  it  was  yet  to  be  shown 

17 


18  How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President. 

that  a  boy  born  of  the  humblest  parentage,  in  poverty 
and  obscurity,  without  educational  advantages,  could  rise, 
by  the  sheer  force  of  his  own  efforts,  to  the  most  exalted 
office  in  the  land. 

Little  Abraham,  son  of  Thomas  and  Nancy  Lincoln, 
in  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky,  found  little  in  his  sur- 
roundings to  suggest  great  things.  He  learned  in  time, 
from  the  pioneer  schoolmaster  and  from  a  few  books  that 
he  came  upon  by  chance,  certain  facts  about  the  nation's 
history  and  some  stories  of  its  great  men.  Later,  still  a 
boy,  but  transplanted  to  another  wilderness  in  another 
State,  he  got  possession  of  Weems'  **  Life  of  Washing- 
ton," the  most  popular  biographical  work  of  that  day. 
Washington,  **  father  of  his  country,"  loomed  as  the 
greatest  figure  in  American  history,  and  young  Abraham 
found  in  the  character  portrayed  in  this  book  an  ideal  that 
persisted  to  the  end  of  his  life. 

George  Washington !  We  can  hardly  suppose  that 
Abraham,  reading  his  book  by  the  flaring  light  of  a  fire- 
place in  a  log  cabin,  had  any  thought  that  he  could  ever 
be  as  great  or  as  world-famous  as  this  wondrous  man. 
George  Washington  was  so  exalted  a  character  —  he 
seemed  to  tower  so  high  above  common  man  —  as  to  be 
utterly  beyond  the  ambition,  beyond  the  imagination,  of 
this  boy  of  the  frontier. 

Yet  a  strange  ambition  very  soon  set  the  youthful 
mind  aflame.  It  was  the  ambition  to  rise  above  his  sordid 
environment  —  to  "  get  up  higher."  Not  many  books 
were  within  his  reach,  but  he  read  them  all  —  and  then 
read  them  again.  Thus  he  acquired  something  that 
became    a    distinguishing    characteristic  —  the    gift    of 


How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  19 

thoroughness  —  that  was  predominant  throughout  his 
hfe.  He  learned  to  master  every  attempted  task.  Let 
him  investigate  something,  he  would  go  to  the  bottom  ; 
he  would  not  leave  it  until  he  knew  all  about  it.  This  was 
the  great  secret  of  his  self-education  —  the  one  great  fact 
that  transplanted  the  university  to  the  fireside  of  a  log 
cabin  in  a  far-off  wilderness. 

"  The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor  "  is  Lin- 
coln's own  description  of  his  youthful  career.  His  birth 
in  Kentucky,  amid  the  humble  surroundings  common  to  a 
pioneer  community  —  his  single  year  of  instruction  under 
the  pioneer  schoolmaster  —  his  bitter  struggle  with  pov- 
erty, beginning  at  his  birth  and  continuing  into  the  years 
of  manhood  —  is  a  story  familiar  to  every  schoolboy.  As 
Lincoln  emerged  from  boyhood,  he  heard  of  a  man  for 
whom  he  conceived  a  high  admiration.  The  man  was 
Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky.  He  had  been  a  member  of 
Congress  for  many  years ;  he  had  achieved  fame  as  an 
orator,  and  he  was  rapidly  becoming  the  idol  of  a  large 
part  of  the  American  people. 

Henry  Clay  became  the  ideal  statesman  in  the  mind 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  even  before  he  had  left  the  rude  hut 
which  was  the  home  of  Thomas  Lincoln  and  his  little 
family  in  Indiana.  The  first  year  of  young  Lincoln  in 
Illinois  was  passed  in  Macon  county,  not  far  from  Deca- 
tur. Here  he  helped  "  clear  "  a  small  farm  in  the  Sanga- 
mon bottom,  and  made  the  rails  that  were  destined  to 
achieve  renown  and  to  become  no  small  factor  in  carrying 
Lincoln  far  beyond  his  most  extravagant  dreams  of  place 
and  power. 


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CHAPTER    11. 

FOUNDATION  OF  GREATNESS  LAID  IN   A  FRONTIER  VILLAGE. 

The  ensuing  six  years  were  extremely  important  ones 
for  A1)raham  Lincoln.  They  were  the  year  (1831-1837) 
which  he  spent  in  the  pioneer  village  of  New  Salem.  This 
was  one  of  the  little  towns  that  had  sprung  up  along  the 
Sangamon  river  and  whose  inhabitants  had  some  am- 
bitious hopes  with  respect  to  the  future.  The  atmosphere 
of  New  Salem  was  not  much  different  from  that  in  which 
Lincoln  had  passed  all  of  his  earlier  years.  Its  inhabitants 
were  pioneer  men  and  women  of  rough  exterior,  but  of 
kind,  generous,  honest  impulses.  There  were  not  many 
counterfeits  among  them.  They  were  genuine  men  and 
women.  In  this  atmosphere  —  amid  this  free,  unselfish 
life  —  here  where  men  met  upon  one  common  level  — 
here  where  there  were  no  classes,  no  aristocracy  —  only 
men,  whose  strongest  tie  binding  them  together  was  the 
brotherhood  of  man  —  Abraham  Lincoln  completed  the 
foundation  of  his  great  character  and  his  marvelous 
career. 

It  was  at  this  crude  frontier  village  that  Lincoln's 
ambition  began  to  expand.  He  had  first  entered  the  vil- 
lage early  in  1831  as  a  flat-boat  man  on  his  way  to  New 
Orleans.  When  he  returned  -^  few  months  later  he  hc.d  had 
his  first  glimpse  of  the  world;  and  in  the  far-off  Southern 
city  he  had  gotten  his  first  clear  notion  of  the  enormity  of 

21 


22  How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President. 

human  slavery;  for  he  had  witnessed  a  slave  auction  — 
and  there  were  planted  the  seeds  of  the  emancipation 
proclamation.  "  If  I  ever  get  a  chance  to  hit  that  thing," 
he  said,  as  he  looked  on  in  horror,  ''  by  the  eternal,  I'll 
hit  it  hard." 

Within  a  few  months  after  settling  at  New  Salem  Lin- 
coln became  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature.  Then,  before 
the  election  came  around,  he  became  a  soldier  in  the 
Black  Hawk  War.  His  first  venture  in  politics  proved  a 
failure,  for  he  was  defeated  as  a  legislative  candidate ; 
but  two  years  later  (in  1834)  he  sought  the  same  office 
again,  and  this  time  w^as  successful.  Meanwhile  he  had 
become  a  store-keeper  and  the  village  postmaster.  He 
took  up  surveying  and  found  a  great  demand  for  his  pro- 
fessional services.  He  read  law  —  an  ambition  formed, 
no  doubt,  some  years  before,  when  he  had  read  the  revised 
statutes  of  Indiana  —  and  was  duly  licensed  as  a  lawyer. 
He  was  still  a  member  of  the  legislature  when  he  put  his 
personal  belongings  in  a  pair  of  saddle-bags  and  rode  a 
borrowed  horse  to  Springfield,  which  henceforth  was  his 
place  of  residence. 

Lincoln's  years  at  New  Salem  were  years  of  progress, 
of  climbing,  of  looking  upward  and  onward.  Gradually 
his  self-confidence  developed ;  he  found  that  he  could  do 
things  —  that  he  could  inspire  his  neighbors  with  con- 
fidence in  him  —  that,  in  short,  there  were  many  possibili- 
ties for  him  in  the  future. 


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GRAVE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  MOTHER   IN   i860. 
From  an  old  engraving. 


CHAPTER    III. 

AN   EARLY   PROPHECY "  WOULDN't   BE  SURPRISED   IF   ABE 

LINCOLN  GOT  TO  BE  GOVERNOR  SOME  DAY." 

Although  Lincoln  lived  precisely  the  life  of  those 
around  him  —  joining  in  the  rough-and-tumble  sports  of 
the  Clary's  Grove  boys,  and  being,  so  far  as  external 
appearances  gave  any  clue,  only  a  tall,  awkward  product 
of  the  frontier  —  his  extraordinary  ability  was  not  with- 
out recognition  on  the  part  of  his  neighbors.  He  was 
obviously  and  undeniably  superior  to  most  of  them  in 
mental  equipment.  They  came  to  him  to  have  him  write 
their  deeds  and  their  legal  papers.  He  was  frequently 
consulted  on  questions  of  law.  The  people  were  not  long 
in  discovering  that  the  flat-boat  man,  store-keeper,  post- 
master, surveyor  and  legislator  was  rapidly  towering 
above  them. 

No  doubt  Lincoln  had  ambitions  that  carried  him  far 
beyond  the  confines  of  New  Salem.  Perhaps  he  expected 
some  day  to  go  to  Congress.  He  had  long  since  made 
the  discovery  that  Congressmen,  and  even  United  States 
Senators,  were,  after  all,  only  "  common  clay,"  and  that 
even  these  high  positions  were  not  to  be  considered  unat- 
tainable. 

There  were  men  in  New  Salem  shrewd  enough  to 
perceive  something  of  Lincoln's  possibilities.  "  Often," 
testifies  one  of  the  surviving  inhabitants  of  New  Salem, 

24 


How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  25 

"  I  have  heard  my  brother-in-law,  Dr.  Duncan,  say  he 
would  not  be  surprised  if  Abe  Lincoln  got  to  be  governor 
of  Illinois/'  (Statement  of  Daniel  Greene  Burner,  Berry 
and  Lincoln's  grocery  clerk,  to  the  author  in  1895.)  Yet 
Dr.  Duncan  was  probably  far  ahead  of  the  other  residents 
of  New  Salem  as  a  prophet  respecting  Lincoln ;  for  not 
many  of  them  were  able  to  perceive  the  attributes  of  a 
governor  of  Illinois  in  the  tall,  awkward  surveyor  who 
went  about  locating  corner-stones,  or  the  perambulating 
postmaster  who  went  about  delivering  letters  from  the 
ample  interior  of  his  hat. 

His  candor  and  honesty  are  shown  clearly  in  his  first 
appeal  for  public  office.  When  he  became  a  candidate 
for  the  Legislature,  in  1832,  he  distributed  a  handbill 
which  set  forth  his  "  platform."    He  concluded : 

"  Every  man  is  said  to  have  his  peculiar  ambition. 
Whether  that  be  true  or  not,  I  can  say,  for  one,  that  I 
have  no  other  so  great  as  that  of  being  truly  esteemed  by 
my  fellow  men  by  rendering  myself  worthy  of  their 
esteem.  How  far  I  shall  succeed  in  gratifying  this  am- 
bition is  yet  to  be  developed.  I  am  young  and  unknown 
to  many  of  you.  I  was  born,  and  have  ever  remained,  in 
the  most  humble  walks  of  life.  I  have  no  wealthy  or 
popular  relatives  or  friends  to  recommend  me.  My  case 
is  thrown  exclusively  upon  the  independent  voters  of  the 
county ;  and,  if  elected,  they  will  have  conferred  a  favor 
upon  me  for  which  I  shall  be  unremitting  in  my  labors  to 
compensate.  But,  if  the  good  people  in  their  wisdom 
shall  see  fit  to  keep  me  in  the  background,  I  have  been 
too  familiar  with  disappointments  to  be  very  much 
chagrined." 


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CHAPTER  .  IV. 

IN    CONGRESS  —  DISAPPOINTED QUITS    POLITICS FINDS 

CONTENTMENT  "  ON  THE  CIRCUIT." 

Lincoln's  admiration  for  Henry  Clay  carried  him 
naturally  into  the  Whig  party.  Although  elected  to  the 
Legislature  on  local  issues,  he  was  an  outspoken  Whig; 
and  it  was  as  a  Whig  that  he  sought  election  to  Congress, 
an  ambition  in  which  he  was  finally  successful.  Lincoln's 
career  in  Congress,  covering  only  one  term,  has  been  fre- 
quently pronounced  a  "  failure."  And  so  it  was,  from  the 
viewpoint  of  achievement  in  Congress,  as  well  as  with 
respect  to  popularity  at  home.  But  the  fault  was  charge- 
able less  to  Lincoln  than  to  his  party.  Lincoln's  service 
in  Congress  came  during  the  Mexican  War,  and  the 
Whig  party  was  on  the  unpopular  side ;  it  had  opposed 
the  waf  in  the  belief  that  it  was  being  waged  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  slave  power.  At  the  end  of  his  term  the  Spring- 
field district  sent  a  new  Congressman  to  Washington. 
Lincoln  asked  for  a  federal  appointment ;  he  wanted  to 
be  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office ;  but  he 
failed  to  get  the  office.  He  was  offered  an  ai)pointment 
as  Governor  of  Oregon  Territory ;  but  he  declined  to 
accept  it,  and  he  came  home,  chagrined  and  dejected, 
resolved  to  quit  politics  forever. 

After  1849  Lincoln's  retirement  from  politics  was 
complete.     In  1850  Congress  enacted  the  famous  "  com- 

27 


How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President.  29 

promise,"  a  series  of  measures  designed  to  settle  the  con- 
flict between  the  North  and  the  South  with  respect  to 
slavery.  Thus  was  removed  apparently  the  only  vital 
issue  that  remained  to  divide  political  parties.  True, 
there  were  a  good  many  "  issues,"  but  they  were  com- 
paratively unimportant;  the  party  organizations  were 
held  together  mainly  by  those  who  cared  everything  for 
office,  but  much  less  for  political  principles. 

For  a  half  dozen  years  Lincoln  practiced  his  profession 
assiduously.  He  followed  the  custom  of  the  day  and  on 
horseback,  in  company  with  other  lawyers,  traveled  from 
county  to  county,  trying  cases  before  the  judges  who 
generally  traveled  with  the  lawyers.  Lincoln  by  degrees 
became  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  his  time  in  Illinois. 
There  were  other  lawyers  whose  fees  were  larger,  but  it 
may  well  be  doubted  if,  in  point  of  ability  and  of  success 
at  the  bar,  Lincoln  had  any  superior  among  his  profes- 
sional contemporaries. 

These  were  years  of  comparative  contentment  for  Lin- 
coln. Year  by  year  he  saw  his  professional  prestige  and 
his  professional  income  increasing.  It  was  a  most  con- 
genial life,  this  old-fashioned  "  riding  the  circuit  ";  for  it 
threw  him  in  the  company  of  the  most  brilliant,  accom- 
plished and  agreeable  men  of  the  time.  As  a  circuit- 
riding  lawyer,  Lincoln  not  only  acquired  his  unrivaled 
reputation  as  a  story-teller,  but  he  completed  his  prepara- 
tion for  the  great  things  he  was  soon  to  do  —  for  the 
great  career  which  was  now  about  to  open,  but  of  which 
he  knew  absolutely  nothing. 


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CHAPTER   V. 

THE  AWAKENING '*  BACK  INTO  POLITICS  "  — A  NEW 

PARTY  —  LINCOLN    ITS    REAL    LEADER. 

The  year  1854  marked  the  reentry  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln into  political  life.  It  was  the  year  of  his  awakening 
from  the  peaceful  life  on  the  circuit.  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
then  United  States  Senator  from  Illinois  —  a  man  who 
had  rapidly  risen  to  the  leadership  of  his  party  in  the 
United  States  Senate  and  who  was  popularly  regarded 
as  the  nation's  foremost  statesman  —  forced  through  Con- 
gress the  measure  that  became  known  as  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill.  This  bill  in  effect  repealed  the  Missouri 
Compromise  of  1820,  which  had  prohibited  slavery  in  the 
unorganized  territory  north  of  36°  30',  and  gave  the 
people  of  a  territory,  prior  to  the  formation  of  a  State 
government,  the  right  to  determine  for  themselves 
whether  or  not  they  should  have  slavery.  This  was  the 
doctrine  of  "  popular  sovereignty,"  thenceforward  linked 
inseparably  with  the  name  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

The  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  necessarily  reopened  the 
slavery  question,  for  it  made  it  possible  to  form  several 
slave  States  from  the  new  territory  in  the  Northwest. 
The  storm  of  opposition  which  swept  over  the  North 
aroused  Lincoln.  He  put  aside  his  law  books  and  once 
more  took  up  the  discussion  of  political  questions.  Illi- 
nois became  the  storm  center  of  the  entire  nation  and 

31 


32  How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became  President. 

gradually  a  new  figure  emerged  from  the  political  chaos 
of  the  day.  The  strange  form  was  the  circuit-riding  law- 
yer, the  quaint  story-teller,  the  skilled  debater,  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

The  year  1854  found  the  old  parties  rapidly  going  to 
pieces.  The  Whig  party  in  truth  was  already  dead.  Its 
last  presidential  campaign  was  that  of  1852  ;  and  although 
its  leaders  had  made  the  customary  prophecies  of  victory 
the  party  had  been  badly  defeated.  In  Illinois  the  Whig 
State  convention  of  1852  had  been  a  most  perfunctory 
affair.  An  interesting  and  significant  incident  was  the 
adoption  of  resolutions  on  the  death  of  Henry  Clay,  whose 
life  went  out  almost  coincidently  with  that  of  the  party 
with  which  his  name  had  been  so  long  identified.  As  for 
Lincoln  there  is  no  record  or  recollection  that  he  was 
present  at  the  Whig  convention  of  1852;  his  name  does 
not  appear  in  the  list  of  delegates ;  for  he  was  "  out  of 
politics," 

But  the  year  1854  witnessed  the  breaking  down  of  the 
old  party  lines.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  proved  a 
severe  blow  to  the  Democratic  party.  In  Illinois  many 
men  who  had  been  prominent  as  Democratic  leaders 
deserted  the  party  and  opposed  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
measure.  The  Whigs  drifted  aimlessly  about.  Very 
soon  there  was  talk  of  a  new  party.  But  two  years  elapsed 
before  the  new  party  actually  appeared  in  organized  form. 

In  the  meantime  Lincoln,  like  many  of  his  Whig  asso- 
ciates, was  a  man  without  a  party.  He  was  slow  — 
exceedingly  slow  —  to  break  the  old  party  ties.  He  kept 
away  from  a  convention  held  in  Springfield  in  1854  for 
the  purpose  of  organizing  a  new  party  —  not  that  he  was 


How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  33 

necessarily  out  of  sympathy  with  its  object,  but  he  was 
not  yet  fully  prepared  to  admit  that  a  new  political  party 
was  necessary. 

The  events  of  the  ensuing  two  years  rapidly  dissipated 
Lincoln's  doubts  as  to  the  expediency  of  a  new  party. 
With  the  opening  of  the  year  1856  Lincoln  was  eager  to 
join  in  the  new  party  movement.  When  a  handful  of 
editors  met  in  Decatur  February  22,  1856,  he  was  there 
in  consultation  with  them.  There  it  was  that  the  pre- 
liminary steps  were  taken  for  the  organization  of  the 
Republican  party  of  Illinois.  Three  months  later  (May 
29),  the  first  Republican  State  convention  was  held  in 
Bloomington  and  there  Lincoln  made  a  wonderful  speech 
which  swayed  the  convention  and  which  infused  into  the 
new  party  that  spirit  which  solidified  and  held  it  together 
and  made  it  ultimately  triumphant. 

From  the  beginning,  Lincoln  was  the  real  leader  of 
the  Republican  party  in  Illinois.  Other  men  were  the 
nominal  leaders ;  other  men  were  chairmen  of  committees 
and  conventions ;  but  the  man  whose  influence  was  most 
powerful  —  the  man  whose  intellect  dominated  the  new 
party  and  whose  ideas  became  its  first  principles  —  was 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

^y  1^55  Lincoln  had  achieved  such  standing  as  to 
make  him  a  formidable  condidate  for  United  States 
Senator.  He  needed  only  a  few  votes  to  elect  him ;  but 
he,  an  anti-Nebraska  Whig,  could  not  get  these,  and  he 
gave  way  to  Lyman  Trumbull,  an  anti-Nebraska  Demo- 
crat. 


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CHAPTER    VI. 

HIS    FAME    GROWS  —  "  LINCOLN     FOR    VICE-PRESIDENT  "  — 

FOR  PARTY  HARMONY. 

By  1856  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincohi  was  coming  to 
be  known  in  other  States.  Yet  he  did  not  regard  himself, 
nor  did  his  friends  regard  him,  as  in  any  sense  a  national 
figure.  The  Republican  national  convention  was  held  at 
Philadelphia  June  17  of  that  year,  and  no  one  was  more 
surprised  than  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  when  the  news  came 
to  Illinois  that  he  had  received  1 10  votes  for  Vice- 
President  on  the  ticket  that  was  to  be  headed  by  John  C. 
Fremont.  Lincoln  was  attending  court  at  Urbana,  and 
when  a  friend  read  to  him  from  a  Chicago  newspaper  the 
annoimcement  of  the  ballot  for  Vice-President  he  said 
indifferently :  "  I  do  not  suppose  the  Lincoln  referred  to 
is  myself."  Then  he  added,  half  facetiously:  "There  is 
another  great  man  of  the  name  of  Lincoln  in  Massa- 
chusetts." 

Lincoln  was  intensely  active  in  the  campaign  of  1856. 
It  is  said  that  he  made  more  than  fifty  speeches  during  the 
summer  and  autumn.  The  speeches  were  not  of  the  short, 
flippant,  catchy  variety  so  common  in  latter-day  p()litics, 
delivered  at  the  rate  of  three  or  four  or  a  dozen  a  day,  as 
in  modern  times.  Three  or  four  speeches  a  week  was  the 
rule,  and  the  audiences  often  were  composed  largely 
of  men  who  had   traveled   twenty   miles  or   farther   by 

35 


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ELECTION  RETURN  WRITTEN  BY  LINCOLN. 

This  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  first  official  document.     While  a  resident  of  New 
Salem  he  frequently  was  clerk  of  election. 


How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  37 

wagon  or  on  horseback  over  prairie  roads.  The  speeches 
were  long,  but  the  people  heard  thcni  through  w^ith  eager- 
ness. It  was  no  uncommon  thing  in  that  day  for  an  audi- 
ence at  a  political  meeting  to  be  held  by  a  public  speaker 
spellbound  for  three  or  four  hours  at  a  time.  As  Lincoln 
went  about  the  State  talking  against  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill  and  "  squatter  sovereignty  "  he  added  vastly  to  his 
reputation  as  a  public  speaker  and  he  rapidly  became  the 
recognized  leader  of  the  Republican  party  in  Illinois. 

The  new  Republican  party  lost  the  State  of  Illinois  in 
the  national  election  of  1856,  for  the  reason  that  the  con- 
servatives, including  many  Old  Line  Whigs,  refused  to 
support  Fremont  and  voted  for  Fillmore;  but  on  the 
State  ticket  the  new  party  had  been  united  and  it  elected 
its  candidate  for  governor,  William  H.  Bissell.  The 
result  thus  showed  that  the  Republicans  were  now  in  the 
majority  in  the  State.  The  thing  needed  was  party  har- 
mony, and  Lincoln  set  about  to  unite  and  solidify  the  new 
party.  "  Let  by-gones  be  by-gones,"  said  he ;  ''  let  past 
differences  as  nothing  be;  and  with  steady  eye  on  the 
real  issue  let  us  reinaugurate  the  good  old  *  central  idea ' 
of  the  republic.  We  can  do  it.  The  human  heart  is  with 
us;  God  is  with  us.  We  shall  again  be  able,  not  to 
declare  that  *  all  States  are  equal,'  nor  not  that  *  all  citizens 
as  citizens  are  equal,'  but  to  renew  the  broader,  better 
declaration,  including  both  these  and  much  more,  that 
'  all  men  are  created  equal '." 

It  was  apparent  to  the  far-seeing  mind  of  Lincoln  that 
the  year  1858  was  to  witness  an  epoch-making  combat  in 
Illinois.  The  second  term  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  as 
United  States  Senator  was  about  to  expire.    The  "  Little 


38  How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President. 

Giant "  not  only  was  a  candidate  for  reelection,  but  all 
over  the  country  he  was  regarded  as  the  probable  nominee 
of  the  Democratic  party  for  President  in  i860.  Twice 
(in  1852  and  again  in  1856),  he  had  come  near  winning 
that  honor,  and  now  if  the  southern  wing  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  could  be  placated  he  was  almost  certain  to  be 
the  presidential  nominee.  Douglas  had  risen  to  a  most 
exalted  place  in  public  life.  He  was  then  recognized  as 
the  leading  statesman  of  the  country.  His  doctrine  of 
"  popular  sovereignty,"  as  enunciated  in  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  of  1854,  had  become  the  leading  political 
issue  of  the  time.  It  had  given  birth  to  the  new  Repub- 
lican party,  organized  to  combat  "  popular  sovereignty  " 
and  the  extension  of  slavery.  Lincoln  must  have  fore- 
seen that  the  senatorial  contest  of  1858  was  to  be  a  test 
of  strength  between  the  old  and  the  new  parties.  It  was 
a  mere  incident  that  Senator  Douglas  \vas  seeking  reelec- 
tion; the  real  conflict  was  one  of  principle  and  Illinois 
was  destined  to  be  the  battle-ground.  Here  the  line  of 
battle  was  to  be  marked  out  for  the  greater  combat  that 
was  to  occur  two  years  later. 

Douglas  was  not  without  his  troubles  within  his  own 
party.  He  had  broken  with  President  Buchanan  on  the 
Lecompton  question.  Buchanan  wanted  Kansas  admitted 
with  the  Lecompton  constitution,  which  permitted  slavery. 
Douglas  declared  that  the  Lecompton  constitution  had 
been  fraudulently  adopted,  that  it  did  not  represent  the 
will  of  the  people,  and  that  the  attempt  to  bring  Kansas 
into  the  Union  as  a  slave  State  was  an  outrage  and  a 
flagrant  violation  of  his  "  great  principle  of  popular  sover- 
eignty."   When  the  Democratic  State  convention,  assem- 


Mow   /Abraham    Lincoln    Became    President.  39 

bled  at  Springfield  April  21,  1858,  adopted  a  resolution 
approving  the  course  of  Senator  Douglas  and  declaring 
for  his  reelection,  a  number  of  delegates,  Buchanan 
Democrats,  withdrew  and  held  a  separate  convention. 
But  the  anti-Douglas  movement  within  the  Democratic 
party  was  not  formidable.  Every  member  of  the  lower 
house  of  Congress  from  Illinois  stood  by  him  and  his 
leadership  of  the  party  in  Illinois  was  not  seriously  dis- 
puted. No  other  Democrat  had  the  temerity  to  be  candi- 
date for  Senator  against  him. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

As  he  appeared  at  the  time  of  the  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates  in  1858.  Mr. 
Lincoln  did  not  wear  a  beard  until  after  his  election  to  the  Presidency  in 
i860. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


<( 


THE     NEW     ISSUE A     HOUSE    DIVIDED    AGAINST     ITSELF 


CAN    NOT   STAND 


>) 


The  Republican  State  convention  was  held  at  Spring- 
field June  i6,  1858.  For  some  time  beforehand  it  was 
generally  conceded  that  Abraham  Lincoln  would  be 
brought  forward  by  the  convention  as  the  party's  candi- 
date for  United  States  Senator  to  oppose  Senator  Doug- 
las. Lincoln  carefully  prepared  a  speech  for  the  occasion. 
He  was  not  unaware  of  the  great  responsibility  that 
devolved  upon  him  and  every  word  to  be  uttered  received 
the  most  thoughtful  consideration.  He  was  about  to  give 
expression  to  a  thought  that  had  gradually  evolved  in  his 
mind  out  of  the  controversy  of  the  preceding  four  years. 
He. was  to  promulgate  a  new  issue.  The  new  doctrine 
was  stated  so  boldly  that  it  startled  many  of  Lincoln's 
own  followers,  who  declared  he  had  made  a  "  political 
blunder."  But  Lincoln  had  carefully  weighed  his  words ; 
he  had  anticipated  and  was  ready  to  answer  every  criti- 
cism ;  and  he  held  to  the  issue  there  proclaimed,  not  only 
through  that  memorable  campaign,  but  until  he  had  lived 
to  see  it  justified  by  the  great  events  that  swiftly  followed. 

This  speech  of  Lincoln  passed  into  history  as  the 
"  house-divided  "  speech  —  a  designation  given  it  from 
the  following  passage: 

"  '  A  house  divided  against  itself  can  not  stand.'     I 

41 


42  How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President. 

believe  this  Government  can  not  endure  permanently  half 
slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be 
dissolved  —  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall ;  but  I  do 
expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one 
thing,  or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery 
will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the 
public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course 
of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  for- 
ward till  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States  — 
old  as  well  as  new.  North  as  well  as  South." 

Immediately  Douglas  savagely  attacked  the  doctrine 
thus  boldly  proclaimed  by  Lincoln.  He  declared  it  was 
"  sectional  "  and  "  revolutionary."  "  Why  can  not  this 
Government  exist  divided  into  free  and  slave  States  ?  " 
thundered  Douglas.  "  Washington,  Jefferson,  Franklin, 
Madison,  Hamilton  and  Jay  and  the  great  men  of  that  day 
made  this  Government  divided  into  free  and  slave  States 
and  left  each  State  perfectly  free  to  do  as  it  pleased  on 
the  subject  of  slavery.  Why  can  it  not  exist  on  the  same 
principles  on  which  our  fathers  made  it  ?  " 

The  attack  of  Douglas  brought  the  attention  of  the 
whole  country  to  the  "  house  divided "  speech  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.    Very  soon  every  eye  was  turned  to  Illinois. 

Lincoln  had  given  a  new  aspect  to  the  slavery  ques- 
tion. Up  to  that  time  every  attempt  at  legislation  affect- 
ing slavery  had  been  based  on  the  theory  of  compromise. 
There  had  been  two  famous  "  compromises  "  —  the  Mis- 
souri compromise  of  1820  and  the  compromise  of  1850. 
Both  had  been  founded  on  the  theory  that  the  institution 
of  slavery  was  to  be  protected  and  perpetuated.  The 
opposition  had  been  directed,  not  against  the  institution 


How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President.  43 

itself,  but  against  the  spread  of  slavery  into  the  territory 
dedicated  to  freedom.  But  here  was  a  new  doctrine  pro- 
claiming that  the  day  of  compromise  was  at  an  end,  that 
this  Government  could  not  permanently  endure  half  slave 
and  half  free,  that  it  must  become  eventually  all  slave  or 
all  free. 


STEPHEN  A.   DOUGLAS. 

His  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  of  1854  caused  Abraham  Lincoln  to  re-enter 
politics;  and  his  debates  with  Lincoln  in  1858  made  the  latter  a  national  fig- 
ure and  a  presidential  possibility. 

Senator  Douglas  and  Mr.  Lincoln  were  long  political  rivals  but  always 
personal  friends.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elevated  to  the  Presidency,  Mr. 
Douglas,  defeated  candidate  for  the  office,  became  one  of  his  loyal  supporters. 
At  the  inaugural  ceremonies,  March  4,  1861,  he  held  the  President's  hat  as  a 
token  of  his  sustaining  friendship.  At  Springfield,  111.,  April  25,  he  delivered 
a  speech  of  great  eloquence  and  force,  appealing  to  his  followers  throughout 
the  nation  to  rally  to  the  support  of  the  Union,  declaring  that  "  the  shortest 
way  to  peace  is  the  most  stupendous  and  unanimous  preparation  for  war." 
He  died  in  Chicago  June  3,   1861. 


The  **  Little  Giant":  A  Tribute 

American  history  furnishes  no  higher  example  of 
patriotism  than  the  conduct  of  Stephen  A.  Douglzis  in 
1861.  There  was  peculiar  pathos  in  his  death.  Lin- 
coln lived  a  finished  life;  his  great  mission  was  accom- 
plished, and  he  passed  beyond  the  purple  hills  in  the 
resplendent  glory  of  an  imperishable  fame.  Douglas 
died  in  the  noonday  of  life,  his  life-ambition  unrealized, 
with  magnificent  possibilities  yet  unfulfilled.  The  Amer- 
ican people  owe  much  to  Stephen  A.  Douglas ;  and 
if  Abraham  Lincoln  could  speak  once  more  he  would 
gladly  pay  his  antagonist  the  tribute  of  praise  that  belongs 
to  a  great  and  patriotic   man. 

From  the  oration,  "'The  Tivo  Giants  of  Illinois, ^^ 
by  J .  McCan  Dains. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    LINCOLN-DOUGLAS    DEBATES ANTAGONISTS    ON    THE 

STUMP  BUT  PERSONAL  FRIENDS. 

As  the  campaign  started  out,  Lincoln  was  obliged  to 
be  content  with  following  Douglas  and  replying  to  him  as 
opportunity  offered.  He  found  himself  at  a  distinct  dis- 
advantage; he  was  obliged  to  talk  almost  entirely  to 
Republican  audiences,  and  he  had  to  bear  the  charge  of 
"  annoying  "  Judge  Douglas  by  this  "  unfair  "  procedure 
of  "  following  him  about  the  State."  Lincoln  longed  for 
an  opportunity  to  talk  to  those  who  opposed  him  —  to  the 
voters  who  were  followers  of  Douglas.  It  was  not  enough 
that  he  bolster  up  the  faith  of  his  own  followers  and 
inspire  them  with  enthusiasm;  what  he  desired  most  to 
do  was  to  make  converts  to  the  new  party.  He  reasoned 
that  he  could  best  do  this  by  speaking  with  Senator  Doug- 
las from  the  same  platform  and  to  the  same  audience. 
He  therefore  challenged  Douglas  to  a  series  of  joint 
debates,  and  Douglas  accepted  the  challenge,  with  the 
result  that  debates  were  held  at  seven  cities  in  the  State  — 
Ottawa,  Freeport,  Jonesboro,  Charleston,  Galesburg, 
Quincy  and  Alton  —  beginning  August  21  and  ending 
October  15. 

These  debates  at  once  attracted  national  attention. 
Douglas  had  many  advantages.  He  was  of  "  world-wide 
renown."  In  prestige  as  a  statesman  he  was  without  a 

46 


How   Abraham   Lincoln    Became   President.  47 

peer.  He  was  rated,  too,  as  the  greatest  debater  in  the 
United  States  Senate.  As  for  Lincohi  it  may  be  said  that 
he  was  well  known,  but  that  probably  one  hundred  other 
men  in  the  United  States  could  claim  as  great  or  greater 
distinction  than  he  had  yet  attained.  Lincoln  himself  felt 
keenly  the  disparity  between  himself  and  Douglas  in  point 
of  reputation.  In  these  debates,  as  on  previous  occasions, 
he  expressed  his  admiration  for  his  famous  opponent. 
He  was  free  to  acknowledge  that  Douglas  had  reached  a 
place  far  higher  than  any  he  himself  could  hope  to 
attain.  "  His  name  fills  the  nation  and  is  not  unknown 
even  in  foreign  lands,"  said  Lincoln.  **  I  affect  no  con- 
tempt for  the  high  eminence  he  has  reached.  So  reached 
that  the  oppressed  of  my  species  might  have  shared  with 
me  in  the  elevation,  I  would  rather  stand  on  that  emi- 
nence than  wear  the  richest  crown  that  ever  pressed  a 
monarch's  brow." 

In  personal  appearance  and  style  of  oratory,  there  was 
the  most  marked  difference  between  Douglas  and  Lincoln. 
In  stature,  Lincoln  towered  an  even  twelve  inches  above 
his  rival.  Douglas,  in  his  manner  of  speaking,  was  digni- 
fied, august  and  forceful.  He  was  possessed  of  a  deep, 
sonorous  voice.  He  spoke  with  great  deliberation  and  his 
well-rounded  sentences  came  out  with  tremendous  impres- 
siveness.  He  rarely  indulged  in  anecdotes  and  there  were 
few  attempts  at  humor.  He  was  desperately  in  earnest. 
In  majesty  and  convincing  power  of  speech,  Douglas  has 
had  few  equals  among  American  orators. 

Lincoln  was  the  antithesis  of  Douglas.  **  He  was  lean 
in  flesh  and  ungainly  in  figure,"  says  W.  H.  Herndon, 
his  law  partner  and  biographer.    "  When  he  began  speak- 


48  How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President. 

ing,  his  voice  was  shrill,  piping  and  unpleasant.  His 
manner,  his  attitude,  his  dark,  yellow  face,  wrinkled  and 
dry,  his  oddity  of  pose,  his  diffident  movements  —  every- 
thing seemed  to  be  against  him,  but  only  for  a  short 
time.  *  *  *  As  he  proceeded  he  became  somewhat 
animated.  *  *  *  jjis  style  was  clear,  terse  and  com- 
pact. *  *  *  jjg  spoke  with  effectiveness  and  to 
move  the  judgment  as  well  as  the  emotions  of  men. 
*  *  *  In  defense  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
—  his  greatest  inspiration  —  he  was  '  tremendous  in  the 
directness  of  his  utterances ;  he  rose  to  impassioned  elo- 
quence, unsurpassed  by  Patrick  Henry,  Mirabeau,  or 
Vergniaud,  as  his  soul  was  inspired  with  the  thought  of 
human  right  and  Divine  justice.'  His  little  gray  eyes 
flashed  in  a  face  aglow  with  ,the  fire  of  his  profound 
thoughts ;  and  his  uneasy  movements  and  diffident  man- 
ner sunk  themselves  beneath  the  wave  of  righteous  indig- 
nation that  came  sweeping  over  him.  Such  was  Lincoln 
the  orator." 

The  times  were  intensely  partisan  and  both  combat- 
ants suffered  unjust  attacks  in  the  opposition  newspapers. 
The  Chicago  Times  portrayed  Lincoln  as  an  ignorant, 
illiterate  fellow,  who  scarcely  could  utter  a  sentence  with- 
out a  grammatical  blunder.  This  was  the  man  who,  a  few 
years  later,  was  to  be  acknowledged  one  of  the  great 
masters  of  the  English  tongue. 

But  the  personal  relations  between  Douglas  and  Lin- 
coln were  most  cordial  throughout  the  debates,  as  they 
always  had  been.  On  the  stump  Douglas  frequently 
assumed  a  belligerent  attitude ;  but  this  was  merely  a  part 
of  the  forensic  combat.    "  My  second  reason  for  not  hav- 


How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President.  49 

ing  a  personal  encounter  with  the  Judge,"  said  Lincoln  on 
one  occasion,  '*  is  that  I  do  not  believe  he  wants  it  him- 
self. [Laughter.]  He  and  I  are  about  the  best  friends  in 
the  world  and  when  we  get  together  he  would  no  more 
think  of  fighting  me  than  of  fighting  his  wife."  At  Free- 
port  it  is  related  that  "  presently  Lincoln  and  Douglas 
came  out  on  the  balcony  of  the  hotel  (the  Brewster 
House).  They  stepped  out  arm  in  arm  and  the  crowd 
cheered  and  cheered.  Neither  Lincoln  nor  Douglas 
attempted  to  say  anything.  They  just  stood  there  for  a 
minute  bowing  again  and  again  to  the  crowd  and  every 
time  they  bowed  a  bigger  shout  went  up." 

A  survivor  of  the  Ouincv  debate  relates  the  followinc^ 
personal  experience :  "  I  was  a  boy  when  Lincoln  and 
Douglas  debated  in  Quincy.  After  the  speeches  were 
over  men  crowded  to  the  platform  and  some  of  us  boys 
thought  there  was  going  to  be  a  fight.  We  stood  around 
awhile ;  some  men  were  shaking  hands  with  Lincoln  and 
others  with  Douglas.  Pretty  soon  Douglas  grabbed  Lin- 
coln by  the  arm  and  said,  'Come  on,  Abe ;  let's  go  to  the 
hotel,'  and  they  walked  off  together.  That  ended  the 
prospect  of  a  fight  and  we  boys  went  away  somewhat  dis- 
appointed." (Statement  of  Captain  Samuel  H.  Bradley, 
of  Mendon,  Illinois,  to  the  author.) 


CHAPTER    IX. 
Lincoln's  question  at  freeport  and  douglas'  answer. 

The  feature  of  the  Lincoln-Douglas  debates  about 
which  most  has  been  written  was  the  passage  at  Freeport, 
in  the  second  debate,  in  which  Lincoln  propounded  the 
question  that  brought  forth  from  Douglas  the  reply  that 
sought  to  reconcile  the  Dred  Scott  decision  with  his 
doctrine  of  "  popular  sovereignty."  Lincoln's  question 
was: 

"  Can  the  people  of  a  United  States  territory,  in  any 
lawful  way,  against  the  wish  of  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  exclude  slavery  from  its  limits  prior  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  State  constitution  ?  " 

Douglas  replied  as  follows :  "  I  answer  emphatically, 
as  Mr.  Lincoln  has  heard  me  answer  a  hundred  times 
from  every  stump  in  Illinois,  that  in  my  opinion  the  people 
of  a  Territory  can,  by  lawful  means,  exclude  slavery  from 
their  limits  prior  to  the  formation  of  a  State  constitution. 
[Enthusiastic  applause.]  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  that  I  had 
answered  that  question  over  and  over  again.  He  heard 
me  argue  the  Nebraska  Bill  on  that  principle  all  over  the 
State  in  1854,  in  1855,  and  in  1856,  and  he  has  no  excuse 
for  pretending  to  be  in  doubt  as  to  my  position  on  that 
question.  It  matters  not  what  way  the  Supreme  Court 
may  hereafter  decide  as  to  the  abstract  question  whether 
slavery  may  or  may  not  go  into  a  Territory  under  the 

50 


How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  51 

Constitution,  the  people  have  the  lawful  means  to  intro- 
duce it  or  exclude  it  as  they  please,  for  the  reason  that 
slavery  can  not  exist  an  hour  or  a  day  anywhere,  unless 
it  is  supported  by  local  police  regulations.  ['  Right, 
right.']  Those  police  regulations  can  only  be  established 
by  the  local  Legislature ;  and  if  the  people  are  opposed  to 
slavery,  they  will  elect  representatives  to  that  body  who 
will  by  unfriendly  legislation  effectually  prevent  the  intro- 
duction of  it  into  their  midst.  If,  on  the  contrary,  they 
are  for  it,  their  legislation  will  favor  its  extension. 
Hence,  no  matter  what  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
may  be  on  that  abstract  question,  still  the  right  of  the 
people  to  make  a  slave  territory  or  a  free  territory  is 
perfect  and  complete  under  the  Nebraska  Bill.  I  hope 
Mr.  Lincoln  deems  my  answer  satisfactory  on  that 
point." 

It  is  said  that  prior  to  the  Freeport  debate  Lincoln 
had  told  some  of  his  friends  —  men  who  were  recognized 
leaders  of  the  new  Republican  party  —  of  his  purpose  to 
ask  this  question,  and  that  they  had  unanimously  advised 
against  it,  on  the  ground  that  Douglas'  answer  was  cer- 
tain to  give  him  a  distinct  advantage ;  that  Lincoln  had 
persistently  ignored  this  argument  and  had  declared  that 
he  proposed  to  drive  Douglas  "  into  a  corner,"  giving  him 
the  alternative  of  two  answers  —  one  that  would  defeat 
him  for  the  Senate,  the  other  that,  while  it  probably  would 
reelect  him  to  the  Senate,  w^ould  alienate  the  Southern 
Democrats  and  thus  defeat  him  for  the  presidency  two 
years  later. 

The  truth  is  that  in  his  reply  to  Lincoln's  celebrated 
question,  Douglas  said  nothing  that  was  not  already  quite 


52  How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President. 

well  understood.  Almost  the  identical  statement  had  been 
made  in  his  speech  at  Bloomington  six  weeks  before  the 
Freeport  debate.  Lincoln  heard  the  Bloomington  speech 
(he  occupied  a  seat  on  the  platform),  and  of  course  under- 
stood Douglas'  position  perfectly. 

But  Lincoln's  question  at  Freeport  was  important, 
because  it  brought  fresh  attention  to  the  point  he  sought 
to  make,  namely,  that  "  popular  sovereignty,"  which  gave 
the  people  of  a  territory  the  right  to  have  slavery  or  not 
to  have  it,  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  which  held  that 
the  slave  owner  might  take  his  "  property  "  into  any  terri- 
tory, were  irreconcilable.  The  reply  of  Douglas  at  Free- 
port  augmented  his  breach  with  the  South,  but  it  was  in 
no  sense  the  cause  of  the  breach,  as  many  writers  have 
erroneously  assumed,  Douglas  had  broken  with  the 
South  the  year  before  over  the  Lecompton  question. 
Southern  Democratic  leaders  already  regarded  him  with 
suspicion  and  disfavor. 


CHAPTER    X. 

AFTER  THE  DEBATES LINCOLN   BECOMES  A   PRESIDENTIAL 

POSSIBILITY. 

Douglas  came  out  of  the  contest  of  1858  the  victor,  so 
far  as  immediate  results  were  concerned ;  for  he  was 
reelected  to  the  Senate.  On  the  popular  vote  the  Repub- 
licans had  carried  the  State,  but  the  Democrats  still  con- 
trolled the  Legislature.  Lincoln  accepted  his  defeat  good- 
naturedly  and  philosophically. 

Douglas  now  loomed  larger  than  ever  on  the  political 
horizon.  The  New  York  Herald  (having  in  mind,  of 
course,  the  opposition  of  President  Buchanan),  declared 
the  election  of  Douglas  *'  one  of  the  most  wonderful  per- 
sonal victories  ever  achieved  by  a  public  man."  The 
New  York  Evening  Post  said  :  "  We  may  expect  to  see  a 
Douglas  party  immediately  formed  in  all  the  States,  with 
its  avowed  champions  and  its  recognized  presses."  "  It 
was  manifest,"  said  the  New  York  Tribune  of  November 
9,  "  that  his  triumph  would  render  inevitable  his  nomina- 
tion for  President  at  Charleston  in  i860.  He  must  either 
be  nominated  or  the  Democratic  party  practically  retires 
from  the  contest,  surrendering  the  Government  to  the 
Republicans."  The  Boston  Daily  Advertiser  of  Novem- 
ber 6  said :  "  We  think  it  may  now  be  regarded  as 
settled  that  the  Democratic  party  will  be  thoroughly 
reorganized  upon  the  Douglas-Forney  basis  in  anticipa- 

53 


54  How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President. 

tion  of  the  presidential  campaign  of  i860.  *  *  *  f^g 
South  must  understand  perfectly  well  from  the  recent 
results  in  Pennsylvania  and  Illinois  that  its  only  hope  of 
preventing  an  overwhelming  victory  of  the  Republicans 
in  i860  lies  in  adopting  the  Douglas  creed.  Some  of  the 
Southern  leaders  of  the  party  have  already  hastened  to 
do  this." 

But  if  the  outcome  was  gratifying  to  Douglas,  it  was 
far  more  important  to  Lincoln,  although  its  effect  upon 
his  political  fortunes  and  upon  the  political  events  soon  to 
follow  was  not  then  perfectly  clear.  Prior  to  his  debates 
with  Douglas  nobody  had  thought  of  Lincoln  in  connec- 
tion with  the  presidency.  Back  in  June,  just  before  he 
made  his  "  house  divided  "  speech,  a  vote  on  presidential 
candidates  was  taken  on  board  a  train  crowded  with  dele- 
gates to  the  Republican  State  convention.  Every  man 
who  had  been  mentioned  for  the  presidency  received  a 
few  votes.  Lyman  Trumbull,  then  in  the  Senate,  was 
given  seven  votes,  and  Governor  Bissell  two  votes.  But 
not  a  vote  was  cast  for  Abraham  Lincoln. 

But  now  the  debates  with  Douglas  had  made  Lincoln 
a  national  figure,  and  already  there  were  suggestions  that 
he  was  the  logical  candidate  of  the  Republican  party  for 
President  in  i860.  It  is  significant  that  at  Mansfield, 
Ohio,  on  the  night  of  November  5,  three  days  after  the 
election,  a  mass  meeting  was  held  and  resolutions  were 
adopted  favoring  Lincoln's  nomination  for  President. 

The  New  York  Herald,  early  in  November,  an- 
nounced :  "  The  following  ticket  has  been  ofifered  at  Cin- 
cinnati :  For  President,  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois ;  for 
Vice-President,  John  P.  Kennedy  of  Maryland  —  with  a 


How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President.  55 

platform  embracing  protection  to  American  industry,  the 
improvement  of  the  western  rivers  and  harbors,  and  oppo- 
sition to  the  extension  of  slavery  by  free  emigration  into 
the  territories."  The  Peoria  Daily  Message  said :  "  Defeat 
works  wonders  with  some  men.  It  has  made  a  hero  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Two  or  three  Republican  journals  of 
different  sections  of  the  L^nion  are  beginning  to  talk  of 
him  as  a  candidate  for  Vice-President,  with  Seward  for 
President ;  and  a  Republican  meeting  held  at  Mansfield, 
Ohio,  raises  him  a  notch  higher  by  announcing  him  their 
candidate  for  President."  **  He  entered  upon  the  canvass 
with  a  reputation  confined  to  his  own  State,"  said  the 
Chicago  Press  and  Tribune.  "  He  closes  it  with  his 
name  a  household  word  wherever  the  principles  he  holds 
are  honored  and  with  the  respect  of  his  opponents  in  all 
sections  of  the  country."  "  No  man  of  this  generation 
has  grown  more  rapidly  before  the  country  than  Lincoln 
in  this  canvass,"  said  the  Lowell  (Mass.)  Journal  and 
Courier.  The  Illinois  State  Register,  published  at  Spring- 
field, recognized  as  the  organ  of  Senator  Douglas,  said 
December  i :  "If  the  Republican  journals  are  to  be  taken 
as  an  index,  Mr.  Lincoln  is  to  be  made  a  presidential 
candidate  upon  the  creed  which  he  enunciated  here  in  his 
June  convention  speech." 


CHAPTER    XL 

*'  WHAT^S   THE   USE  OF  TALKING   OF  ME  FOR   PRESIDENT  ?  " 

SAYS  LINCOLN. 

Thus  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  the  space  of  a  few  months, 
had  risen  to  presidential  stature.  Out  of  the  West  had 
come  a  new  star  in  the  political  firmament.  Lincoln  for 
President!  The  words  must  have  had  an  enchanting 
sound  to  this  man  of  trials  and  struggles  and  disappoint- 
ments. Yet  he  gave  no  sign  of  elation.  He  offered  no 
encouragement  to  the  President-makers. 

While  the  debates  were  in  progress  Jesse  W.  Fell  of 
Bloomington,  then  a  prominent  and  active  Republican 
and  a  personal  friend  of  Lincoln,  had  occasion  to  travel 
through  the  East,  and  he  came  home  impressed  with  the 
favorable  things  being  said  about  Lincoln  in  the  Eastern 
States.  One  evening  in  Bloomington  he  told  Lincoln  of 
the  reputation  he  was  getting  in  other  States  and  sug- 
gested that  he  would  make  a  formidable  candidate  for 
President. 

"  What's  the  use  of  talking  of  me  for  President," 
replied  Lincoln,  "  while  we  have  such  men  as  Seward, 
Chase  and  others,  who  are  so  much  better  known  to  the 
people,  and  whose  names  are  so  intimately  associated  with 
the  principles  of  the  Republican  party?  *  *  *  j 
admit  that  I  am  ambitious  and  would  like  to  be  President. 
I  am  not  insensible  to  the  compliment  you  pay  me  and  the 


How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President.  57 

interest  you  manifest  in  the  matter ;  but  there  is  no  such 
good  hick  in  store  for  me  as  the  presidency  of  these 
United  States."  And  in  response  to  Mr.  Fell's  request  for 
a  biographical  sketch  that  he  might  publish  in  the  East, 
Lincoln  said :  **  There  is  nothing  in  my  early  history  that 
would  interest  you  or  anybody  else ;  and,  as  Judge  Davis 
says,  '  it  won't  pay.'  Good  night."  And  thus  Lincoln 
sought  to  dismiss  the  subject. 

After  the  debates  with  Douglas,  Lincoln  went  back  to 
his  law  office.  The  country  was  too  busy  sounding  the 
praises  of  the  ''  big  "  men  —  the  men  who  were  on  the 
national  stage  in  Washington  and  elsewhere  —  to  give 
much  thought  to  Lincoln.  For  there  were  several  men 
who  were  energetically  at  work  to  capture  the  presiden- 
tial nomination  in  i860  and  who  managed  to  keep  in  the 
limelight.     Lincoln  was  not  among  the  number. 

A  wave  of  Lincoln  sentiment,  as  we  have  seen,  swept 
over  the  country  immediately  following  the  debate  with 
Douglas,  but  to  all  appearances  it  had  subsided.  The 
country  was  not  clamoring  for  Lincoln.  But  the  events 
of  the  ensuing  year  all  conspired  to  make  him  the 
inevitable  nominee  of  his  party  for  President.  We  may 
guess  that  Lincoln  continued  thinking  deeply,  as  little  as 
he  talked,  and  that  he  was  not  unaware  that  the  trend  of 
events  made  him  more  and  more  the  logical  presidential 
candidate  of  the  Republican  party.  But  the  country  did 
not  so  view  the  situation  —  not  yet. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

LINCOLN   DECIDES   THAT   HE   HAS   A   "'FIGHTING  CHANCE/' 
AND   STARTS   IN   TO   GET   ILLINOIS   DELEGATION. 

The  talk  of  Lincoln  for  President  went  on  quietly  in 
Illinois.  The  Republican  party  in  the  State  had  among 
its  leaders  some  very  able  men  and  astute  politicians. 
Judge  David  Davis,  Judge  Stephen  T.  Logan,  John  M. 
Palmer,  Richard  J.  Oglesby,  Leonard  Swett,  O.  H. 
Browning,  Jesse  W.  Fell  —  all  were  politicians  of  the 
highest  rank,  and  all  were  enthusiastically  for  the  nomina- 
tion of  Lincoln  for  President. 

Lincoln,  all  through  the  year  1859,  gave  his  friends 
little  encouragement.  "  I  must  in  all  candor  say  I  do  not 
think  myself  fit  for  the  presidency,"  he  wrote  in  April  of 
that  year. 

It  was  not  until  late  in  the  year  that  Lincoln  seems 
to  have  considered  himself  seriously  a  presidential  can- 
didate. Early  in  i860  he  apparently  had  decided  that 
he  had  at  least  a  fighting  chance,  and  that  the  thing  of 
first  importance  was  to  make  sure  of  the  Illinois  delega- 
tion. 

For  there  was  grave  danger  that  the  delegation  to  the 
national  convention  from  Lincoln's  own  State  would  be 
divided.  Lincoln  was  a  mere  chance  —  only  a  "  pros- 
pect."    Many  politicians  in  the  State,  anxious  to  "  land 

58 


How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President.  59 

with  the  winner,"  did  not  take  kindly  to  the  Lincoln  can- 
didacy. 

The  presidential  candidate  who  towered  above  all 
others  was  William  H.  Seward  of  New  York.  He  had 
been  governor  of  New  York,  the  greatest  State  in  the 
Union;  he  had  almost  completed  a  second  term  in  the 
United  States  Senate;  he  had  been  conspicuous  in  the 
compromise  legislation  of  1850;  he  had  fought  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  in  1854;  he  had  become  the  expo- 
nent of  the  "  higher  law,"  and,  discussing  the  Dred  Scott 
Decision  in  1858,  he  had  announced  the  "  irrepressible 
conflict."  The  whole  country  knew  Seward ;  he  was  a 
master  politician,  and  he  had  an  organization  that  ex- 
tended to  every  State  that  was  to  be  represented  at  Chi- 
cago; and  all  in  all  he  seemed  the  logical  and  inevitable 
nominee  of  his  party  for  President. 

In  Illinois,  Seward  was  making  an  organized  effort  to 
get  at  least  a  part  of  the  State  delegation.  The  work  was 
being  done  quietly,  but  eft"ectively.  It  was  Seward's  game 
to  split  up  the  Illinois  delegation,  so  that  Lincoln  would 
appear  weak  in  his  home  State.  Lincoln  knew  well  what 
was  going  on,  and  he  appreciated  fully  the  importance  of 
checking  the  Seward  movement  and  of  preventing  a  divi- 
sion of  the  State  delegation.  Out  in  Kansas  a  friend,  who 
seemed  to  be  in  a  position  to  speak  authoritatively,  had 
promised  Lincoln  the  delegation  from  that  State;  but,  to 
Lincoln's  chagrin,  the  convention  instructed  the  delega- 
tion for  Seward. 

The  Seward  movement  made  considerable  headway  in 
the  north  end  of  the  State,  where  many  county  conven- 
tions cither  refrained  from  indorsing  Lincoln  or  openly 


60  How  Abraham  Lincob  Became  President. 

eulogized  Seward.  In  the  south  end  of  the  State  the 
Seward  people  were  adroitly  encouraging  the  candidacy 
of  Edward  Bates  of  Missouri.  On  February  9,  i860, 
Lincoln  wrote  Norman  B.  Judd  a  letter,  in  which  he  said : 

I  am  not  in  a  position  where  it  would  hurt  much  for  me  not 
to  be  nominated  on  the  national  ticket,  but  I  am  where  it  would 
hurt  some  for  me  not  to  get  the  Illinois  delegates.  What  I 
expected  when  I  wrote  the  letter  to  Messrs.  Dole  and  others  is  now 
happening.  Your  discomfited  assailants  are  most  bitter  against 
me,  and  they  will,  for  revenge  upon  me,  lay  to  the  Bates  egg  in 
the  South,  and  to  the  Seward  egg  in  the  North,  and  go  far  toward 
squeezing  me  out  in  the  middle  with  nothing.  Can  you  not  help 
me  a  little  in  this  matter  in  your  end  of  the  vineyard  ? 

Lincoln  looked  forward  to  the  State  convention  with 

many  misgivings.     The  convention  was   to  be  held  at 

Decatur  May  9.    The  "  Seward  eggs  "  promised  to  hatch 

an  unpleasantly   large  brood  of   delegates.     But  some 

things  were  happening  of  which  even  Lincoln  was  not 

advised  —  things  not  very  big  in  themselves,  but  destined 

to  be  tremendously  important  in  ultimate  results. 


GOV.  RICHARD  J.  OGLESBY. 

(From  a  painting  in  the  Governor's  Office,  State  House,  Springfield,  111.) 

It  was  "  Dick  "  Oglesby,  then  a  Decatur  lawyer,  who  planned  and 
directed  the  "  rail  episode  "  in  the  State  convention  in  i860,  which  stampeded 
the  convention  for  I.incoln. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

STORY    OF    A    FENCE    RAIL HOW    ''  DICK  ""    OGLESBY    AND 

JOHN     HANKS    STAMPEDED    THE    STATE    CONVENTION. 

There  lived  in  Decatur  in  i860  a  brilliant  young  law- 
yer and  politician  of  the  name  of  Richard  J.  Oglesby. 
"  Dick  "  Oglesby  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  Lincoln 
when  a  mere  boy ;  he  had  been  an  ardent  admirer  of  Lin- 
coln for  twenty  years ;  he  believed  in  Lincoln  and  was 
for  him  for  President  with  all  that  vehement,  rugged  en- 
thusiasm that  distinguished  the  Oglesby  of  after  years. 

"  Dick "  Oglesby  was  astute,  far-seeing ;  he  had 
imagination,  and  Lincoln's  magnificent  possibilities  as  a 
popular  candidate  for  President  loomed  large  in  his  mind. 
He  was  acquainted  with  Lincoln's  early  life,  his  lowly 
origin,  his  rise  from  poverty.  Lie  knew  that  out  on  the 
Sangamon  bottom,  thirty  years  before,  Lincoln,  with  the 
aid  of  John  Hanks,  had  split  rails  and  built  a  fence. 

Gov.  Oglesby,  a  few  months  before  his  death  in  1899, 
related  to  the  writer  the  story  of  his  strategy  to  ''  kill  the 
Seward  boom  and  commit  the  State  unreservedly  and 
unitedly  to  Lincoln."  Oglesby,  like  Lincoln,  foresaw  the 
danger  of  a  divided  delegation,  and  he  proposed  to  do 
something  that  would  make  the  delegation  solidly  and 
enthusiastically  for  Lincoln. 

"  I  had  known  John  Hanks  all  my  life,"  said  Gover- 
nor Oglesby  to  the  writer.    "  He  was  a  Democrat,  but  a 

63 


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How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  65 

great  friend  of  Lincoln.  Years  before  they  had  gone 
together  on  a  flatboating  expedition  down  the  Mississippi. 
He  had  wanted  to  vote  for  Lincoln  for  United  States 
Senator,  but  he  could  not  do  this  without  voting  for  the 
local  Republican  candidates  for  the  Legislature.  As 
soon  as  he  heard  that  Lincoln  might  be  nominated  for 
President,  he  was  bound  to  vote  for  *  old  Abe.* 

"  One  day  I  was  talking  with  John  about  Abe,  and 
he  said  that  in  1830  they  made  a  clearing  twelve  miles 
west  of  Decatur.  There  was  a  patch  of  timber  —  fifteen 
or  twenty  acres  —  and  they  had  cleared  it ;  they  had 
built  a  cabin,  cut  the  trees,  mauled  rails,  and  put  up  a 
fence. 

"  'John,'  said  I,  '  did  you  split  rails  down  there  with 
old  Abe  ? ' 

Yes  ;  every  day,'  he  replied. 

Do  you  suppose  you  could  find  any  of  them  now? ' 

Yes,'  he  said.     '  The  last  time  I  was  down  there, 
ten  years  ago,  there  were  plenty  of  them  left.' 
"  '  What  are  you  going  to  do  to-morrow  ?  ' 
"  '  Nothing.'  ' 

Then,'  said  I,  '  come  around  and  get  in  my  buggy, 
and  we  will  drive  down  there.' 

"  So  the  next  day  we  drove  out  to  the  old  clearing. 
We  turned  in  by  the  timber,  and  John  said : 

Dick,  if  I  don't  find  any  black-walnut  rails,  nor  any 
honey-locust  rails,  I  won't  claim  it's  the  fence  Abe  and  I 
built.' 

Presently  John  said,  *  There's  the  fence ! ' 

But  look  at  these  great  trees,*  said  L 

Certainly,'  he  answered.  *  They  have  all  grown 
up  since.' 


(( ( 


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JOHN  HANKS. 

Cousin  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Hanks  helped  Lincoln  make  three  thousand 
rails  in  the  Sangamon  bottom  in  1830.  It  was  he  who  carried  the  "  rail  ban- 
ner "  into  the  Republican  State  Convention  at  Decatur,  May  10,   i860. 


How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  67 

"  John  got  out.  I  stayed  in  the  buggy.  John  kneeled 
down  and  commenced  chipping  the  rails  of  the  old  fence 
with  his  knife.  Soon  he  came  back  with  black-walnut 
shavings  and  honey-locust  shavings. 

"  *  There  they  are ! '  said  he,  triumphantly,  holding 
out  the  shavings.    *  They  are  the  identical  rails  we  made.' 

"  Then  I  got  out  and  made  an  examination  of  the 
fence.  There  were  many  black-walnut  and  honey-locust 
rails. 

**  '  John,'  said  I,  *  where  did  you  cut  these  rails? ' 

** '  I  can  take  you  to  the  stumps,'  he  answered. 

"  *  We  will  go  down  there,'  said  I. 

"  We  drove  about  a  hundred  yards. 

*' '  Now,'  said  he,  *  look !  There's  a  black-walnut 
stump  ;  there's  another  —  another  —  another.  Here's 
where  we  cut  the  trees  down  and  split  the  rails.  Then 
we  got  a  horse  and  wagon,  and  hauled  them  in,  and  built 
the  fence,  and  also  the  cabin.' 

**  We  took  two  of  the  rails  and  tied  them  under  the 
hind  axle-tree  of  my  new  buggy,  and  started  for  town. 
People  would  occasionally  pass,  and  think  something  had 
broken.  We  let  them  think  so,  for  we  didn't  wish  to  tell 
anybody  just  what  we  were  doing.  We  kept  right  on 
until  we  got  to  my  barn.  There  we  hid  the  rails  until 
the  day  of  the  convention. 

"  Before  the  convention  met  I  talked  with  several 
Republicans  about  my  plan,  and  we  fixed  it  up  that  old 
John  Hanks  should  take  the  rails  into  the  convention. 
We  made  a  banner,  attached  to  a  board  across  the  top 
of  the  rails,  with  the  inscription : 


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How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  69 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN, 

The  Rail  Candidate  for  President  in  i860. 

Two  rails  from  a  lot  of  3,000  made  in  1830  by  John  Hanks  and 

Abe  Lincoln,  whose  father  was  the  first  pioneer 

of  Macon  county. 

"  After  the  convention  got  under  way,  I  arose  and 
announced  that  an  old  Democrat  desired  to  make  a  con- 
tribution to  the  convention.  The  proceedings  stopped, 
and  all  was  expectancy  and  excitement.  Then  in  walked 
old  John  with  the  rails.  Lincoln  was  there  in  a  corner, 
trying  to  escape  observation. 

"  *  How  are  you,  Abe?'  said  John,  familiarly,  as  he 
passed. 

"  '  How  are  you,  John?  '  Lincoln  answered  with  equal 
familiarity. 

"  Then  the  convention  cheered  and  cheered.  There 
were  loud  and  persistent  calls  for  a  speech  from  Lincoln. 
Abe  had  not  known  that  the  rails  were  to  be  brought  in. 
He  hardly  knew  what  to  say  about  them. 

'*  *  Gentlemen,'  he  finally  said,  *  John  and  I  did  make 
some  rails  down  there;  and  if  these  aren't  the  identical 
rails  we  made,  they  certainly  look  very  much  like  them.' 

"  From  that  time  forward  the  rail  was  ever  present 
in  the  campaign.  There  was  a  great  demand  for  Lin- 
coln rails.  John  Hanks  sold  the  two  that  he  brought 
into  the  convention.  A  man  from  Kentucky  gave  him 
five  dollars  for  one.  The  next  day  he  went  out  and  got 
a  wagon-load,  and  put  them  in  my  barn.  He  sold  them 
for  a  dollar  apiece.  Then  other  people  went  into  the 
business,  and  the  supply  seemed  inexhaustible." 

"  By  this  time,"  says  Lamon,  one  of  Lincoln's  biog- 


^ 


GENERAL  JOHN  M.  PALMER. 

Who  introduced  and  eloquently  advocated  the  resolution  in  the  Decatur 
Convention,  May  lo,  i860,  instructing  the  Illinois  delegation  for  Lincoln. 
General  Palmer  presided  over  the  first  Republican  State  Convention  in  Illi- 
nois, held  at  Bloomington,  May  29,    1856. 


How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  71 

raphers,  writing  of  the  rail  episode  in  the  Decatur  con- 
vention, "  the  innocent  Egyptians  began  to  open  their 
eyes  —  they  saw  plainly  enough  now  the  admirable 
presidential  scheme  unfolded  to  their  view." 

The  Seward  boom  was  dead.  "  Dick  "  Oglesby  and 
old  John  Hanks  and  two  fence  rails  had  killed  it.  John 
M.  Palmer  was  at  once  on  his  feet  with  a  resolution 
declaring  that  "  Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  first  choice  of 
the  Republican  party  of  Illinois  for  the  presidency,"  and 
instructing  "  the  delegates  to  the  Chicago  convention  to 
use  all  honorable  means  to  secure  his  nomination  and  to 
cast  the  vote  of  the  State  as  a  unit  for  him." 

Thomas  J.  Turner,  of  Freeport,  who  had  served  in 
Congress  with  Lincoln  in  1847-8,  was  there  as  a  cham- 
pion of  Seward,  and  he  bitterly  attacked  the  resolution. 
Palmer  replied  in  a  speech  of  tremendous  force,  and 
the  resolution  was  adopted  amid  great  enthusiasm. 

Thus  vanished  the  specter  of  a  "  divided  delegation  " 
which  had  haunted  Lincoln  for  many  months.  It  turned 
out,  as  Nicolay  and  Hay  remark  in  their  biography, 
"  that  the  Illinois  Republicans  sent  a  delegation  to  the 
Chicago  convention  full  of  personal  devotion  to  Lincoln 
and  composed  of  men  of  the  highest  standing  and  of 
consummate  political  ability,  and  their  enthusiastic  efforts 
in  his  behalf  among  the  delegations  from  other  States 
contributed  largely  to  the  final  result." 


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CHAPTER  XIV. 

ON  THE  EVE  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CONVENTION  —  SEWARD 
ALMOST  A  CERTAINTY,  BUT  ''aBE  LINCOLN  LOOMING 
UP/' 

The  Decatur  convention  which  thus  committed  IIH- 
nois  to  Lincoln  was  held  only  a  week  before  the  national 
convention  was  to  open  in  Chicago.  It  is  a  remarkable 
fact  that  up  to  that  time  the  Lincoln  candidacy  had  been 
almost  entirely  ignored  by  the  newspapers  of  the  East. 
Within  a  few  days  the  New  York  Tribune,  the  New  York 
Herald,  and  the  New  York  Independent  had  discussed 
presidential  candidates.  They  had  spoken  of  Seward, 
Banks,  Chase,  Cameron,  Bates,  McLean,  Sumner,  Fes- 
senden,  Bell,  Wade,  Fremont,  and  others ;  but  strangely 
enough  there  was  not  a  single  mention  of  Lincoln  even 
as  a  possibility. 

Such  was  the  situation  only  a  few  days  before  the 
Republican  national  convention  opened  at  Chicago  on 
the  sixteenth  of  May,  i860.  The  astute  Illinoisans  had 
secured  an  important  advantage  (not  then  apparent 
to  the  opposition),  when  the  national  convention  was 
brought  to  Chicago.  As  the  delegates  from  far-off 
States  began  gathering,  the  Lincoln  boom  rapidly  took 
formidable  shape.  On  May  14  (Monday),  two  days 
before  the  convention  opened,  the  New  York  Herald,  in 
a  dispatch  from  Chicago,  declared  that  the  contest  had 
narrowed   down  to  Seward,   Lincoln   and   Wade.     The 

73 


74  How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President. 

Boston  Herald  of  the  same  day  said:  "Abe  Lincoln  is 
looming  up  to-night  as  a  compromise  candidate  and  his 
friends  are  in  high  spirits." 

The  Illinoisans,  headed  by  Judge  David  Davis,  worked 
adroitly  and  indefatigably.  Lincoln  sentiment  spread 
with  amazing  rapidity  among  the  delegates ;  but  it  was 
something  of  an  undercurrent. 

Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune, 
then  the  most  influential  paper  in  the  country,  was  there 
wuth  the  proxy  of  a  delegate  from  Oregon.  He  was  not 
in  sympathy  with  the  Seward  movement,  but  was  for 
Judge  Bates,  of  Missouri.  But  throughout  the  prelimi- 
nary skirmishing  and  almost  up  to  the  moment  of  the 
opening  ballot,  Greeley,  astute  observer  that  he  was, 
could  see  little  chance  to  prevent  Seward's  nomination. 

The  convention  was  to  convene  on  Wednesday,  the 
1 6th.  On  Saturday,  the  12th,  the  Chicago  correspondent 
wired  the  Tribune  —  and  this  represented  Greeley's  judg- 
ment, if  the  message  was  not  actually  written  by  him : 

"  Mr.  Seward  will  lead,  Mr.  Bates  will  come  next, 
Mr.  Chase  will  be  third,  having  some  New  England 
votes.  Mr.  Cameron  will  come  next,  and  then  Mr. 
Lincoln.  The  latter  is  being  pressed  by  the  Illinois  dele- 
gations as  a  compromise  candidate  and  would  be  accepted 
by  all  the  Northwest  cheerfully." 

On  Tuesday  night  the  Chicago  correspondent  wired 
the  Tribune  that  "  Mr.  Lincoln,  of  Illinois,  is  rising  in 
prominence."  At  10  o'clock  the  same  night  the  corre- 
spondent wired : 

"Dudley  Field,  of  New  York,  and  his  friends  have 
joined  the  party  of  Judge  Bates,  and  efforts  are  making 


How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President.  76 

to  concentrate  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Seward  upon  him. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  however,  seems  to  be  gaining  ground,  and 
his  Illinois  friends  are  greatly  encouraged  to-night  at  the 
prospect  of  his  uniting  the  doubtful  States  and  the 
Northwest." 

The  convention  was  to  open  on  the  following  day. 
The  Illinoisans  had  been  working  with  great  energy  and 
skill,  and  the  Lincoln  "  boom  "  had  grown  rapidly,  but 
victory  was  not  yet  in  sight.  The  Seward  managers 
hoped  even  yet,  after  the  initial  ballot,  to  get  some  of  the 
Illinois  delegates  away  from  Lincoln.  Although  the 
Illinois  delegation  was  under  iron-clad  instructions  for 
Lincoln,  and  although  under  the  leadership  of  ardent  Lin- 
coln men,  eight  of  the  twenty-one  delegates  were  rated 
as  lukewarm ;  they  could  not  see  that  Lincoln  had  more 
than  a  *'  fighting  chance,"  and  they  were  suspected  of 
being  ready  to  go  over  to  Seward.  To  add  to  the  embar- 
rassment of  this  situation,  "  Long  John  "  Wentworth, 
editor  of  the  Chicago  Democrat,  although  after  the 
Lincoln-Douglas  debates  he  had  declared  that  Lincoln 
should  be  urged  on  the  next  national  convention  as  the 
candidate  of  Illinois  for  President,  was  now  in  the  hotel 
lobbies  talking  openly  and  loudly  for  Seward.  Finally 
the  Lincoln  managers  detailed  a  man  to  follow  Went- 
worth and  denounce  him,  and  thus  counteract  his  influ- 
ence. 

The  lUinoisans  had  taken  a  long  stride  forward 
when  on  Monday,  after  a  three  days'  struggle,  tliey  won 
over  to  Lincoln  the  entire  delegation  from  Indiana. 
They  labored  persistently  and  unceasingly  with  other 
States.      They   impressed    into   service   every   man   who 


"  A  RAIL  OLD  WESTERN  GENTLEMAN." 

A  caricature  of  the  campaign  of  i860.     From  the  Oldroyd  collection,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 


How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President.  77 

knew  Lincoln  to  go  out  and  talk  about  him  —  to  tell  of 
his  romantic  life,  his  humble  birth,  his  rail-splitting  and 
flat-boating,  his  line  character  and  his  great  ability.  For 
the  delegates  were  looking  for  an  "  available  "  candidate 
—  fur  the  man  who  could  be  elected.  The  principal 
objection  to  Seward  was  that  he  could  not  carry  the 
doubtful  States. 

One  of  the  things  the  Illinoisans  had  to  combat  was 
the  movement  to  nominate  Lincoln  for  Vice-President. 
General  John  AL  i'almer,  who  was  one  of  the  most  tire- 
less workers  for  Lincoln,  in  a  statement  to  the  author  in 
1896,  said : 

"  The  Seward  men  were  perfectly  willing  that  he 
should  go  on  the  tail  of  the  ticket.  We  were  not  troubled 
so  much  by  their  antagonism  as  by  the  overtures  they 
were  constantly  making  to  us.  They  literally  over- 
whelmed us  with  kindness.  Judge  David  Davis  came 
to  me  in  the  Tremont  House,  greatly  agitated  at  the 
way  things  were  going.  He  said :  '  Palmer,  you  must 
go  with  me  at  once  to  see  the  New  Jersey  delegation.' 
I  asked  him  what  I  could  do.  '  Well,'  said  he,  '  there 
is  Judge  Blank  (naming  a  prominent  delegate  from  that 
State),  a  grave  and  venerable  judge,  who  is  insisting  that 
Lincoln  shall  be  nominated  for  Vice-President  —  and 
Seward  for  President.  We  must  convince  the  judge  of 
his  mistake.' 

*'  We  went.  I  was  introduced  to  Judge  Blank  and  we 
talked  about  the  matter  for  some  time.  Judge  Blank 
praised  Seward,  but  he  was  especially  effusive  in  express- 
ing his  admiration  for  Lincoln.  He  thought  that  Seward 
was  clearly  entitled  to  first  place,  and  that  Lincoln's 
eminent  merits  entitled  him  to  second  place. 


78  How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President. 

"  I  listened  for  some  time  and  then  said :  '  Judge 
Blank,  you  may  nominate  Mr.  Lincoln  for  Vice-President, 
if  you  please;  but  I  want  you  to  understand  that  there 
are  forty  thousand  Democrats  in  IlHnois  who  will  support 
this  ticket  if  you  will  give  them  an  opportunity ;  but  we 
are  not  Whigs,  and  we  never  expect  to  be  Whigs.  We 
will  never  consent  to  support  two  old  Whigs  on  this 
ticket.  We  are  willing  to  vote  for  Mr.  Lincoln  with  a 
Democrat  on  the  ticket;  but  we  will  not  consent  to  vote 
for  two  old  Whigs.' 

"  The  indignation  of  Judge  Blank  I  have  seldom  seen 
equalled.    Turning  to  Judge  Davis  he  said  fiercely : 

"  *  Judge  Davis,  is  it  possible  that  party  spirit  so  pre- 
vails in  Illinois  that  Judge  Palmer  properly  represents 
public  opinion  ? ' 

" '  Oh/  said  Davis,  affecting  some  distress  at  what  I 
had  said,  '  Oh,  my  God,  Judge,  you  can't  account  for  the 
conduct  of  these  old  Locofocos.  Will  they  do  as  Palmer 
says?  Certainly.  There  are  forty  thousand  of  them, 
and,  as  Palmer  says,  not  ad  —  d  one  of  them  will  vote 
for  two  W^higs.' 

"  We  left  Judge  Blank  in  a  towering  rage.  When 
we  were  back  at  the  Tremont  House  I  said :  '  Davis,  you 
are  an  infernal  rascal  to  sit  there  and  hear  that  man 
berate  me  as  he  did.  You  really  seemed  to  encourage 
him/ 

"  Judge  Davis  said  nothing,  but  chuckled  as  if  he 
greatly  enjoyed  the  joke.  This  incident  is  illustrative  of 
the  kind  of  work  we  had  to  do.  We  were  compelled  to 
resort  to  this  argument  —  that  the  old  Democrats  now 
ready  to  affiliate  with  the  Republican  part}'  would  not 


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GREAT  LINCOLN  RALLY  —  SPRINGFIELD,  AUGUST  8,  i860. 

Reproduced  from  the  Daily  State  Journal  of  August  9,  i860.  This  was 
the  greatest  rally  of  the  campaign.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  present  and  spoke 
briefly — his  only  campaign  speech  of  that  year.     The  newspaper  account  says: 

"At   the   conclusion   of  these   remarks,    Mr.   I  '      descended    from    the 

platform  and  with  dificuhy  made  his  way  thr  ^  .he  vast  throng  who 
eagerly  pressed  around  to  take  him  by  the  band.  Bjr  an  adroit  movement 
he  escaped  on  horseback,  while  the  crowd  were  besieging  the  carriage  to 
which  it  was  expected  he  would  return." 


How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President.  81 

tolerate  two  Whigs  on  the  ticket  —  in  order  to  break  up 
the  movement  to  nominate  Lincoln  for  Vice-President." 

One  part  of  the  game  of  the  Lincoln  men  was  a  fight 
for  time.  Their  candidate  was  gaining,  and  the  longer 
the  nomination  was  deferred  the  better  his  chances.  It 
had  been  the  purpose  to  name  the  candidate  for  President 
on  Thursday,  the  17th.  Had  that  been  done,  Mr.  Seward 
probably  would  have  been  nominated.  But  the  Illinoisans 
shrewdly  maneuvered  for  an  adjournment  —  and  got  it. 

During  all  Thursday  night  the  Illinoisans  worked 
desperately.  Most  of  them  did  not  go  to  bed  at  all.  The 
supporters  of  other  candidates  also  were  busy.  The 
problem  was  how  to  unite  the  opposition  to  Seward  on  an 
available  candidate. 

At  midnight  Thursday  night  the  New  York  Tribune 
correspondent  wired  his  paper : 

"  Though  there  is  an  increased  disposition  to  gather 
about  Mr.  Lincoln,  no  effective  combination  of  opposi- 
tion is  yet  formed.  Ohio  is  uncertain,  Pennsylvania  gives 
no  positive  assurances,  and  when  New  Jersey  breaks  but 
half  goes  to  Mr.  Seward.  Part  of  the  Missouri  delega- 
tion prefer  Mr.  Seward  to  Mr.  Lincoln. 

"  They  want  a  conservative  with  whom  to  make  a 
winning  fight,  or  a  straight-out  radical  for  a  contest  of 
pure  principle. 

"  New  England  Is  anxious  and  doubtful.  She  Is 
puzzled.  She  hesitates  both  to  desert  Mr.  Seward  and  to 
force  him  on  the  doubtful  States.  They  are  likely  to  be 
much  cut  up.  The  Massachusetts  delegation  have  been 
In  a  labored  conference  against  and  show  an  Increased 
disposition  to  leave  Mr.  Seward  and  go  for  Mr.  Lincoln." 


82  How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President. 

At  the  same  hour  (midnight)  Horace  Greeley  per- 
sonally wired  the  Tribune: 

"  My  conclusion,  from  all  that  I  can  gather  to-night, 
is  that  the  opposition  to  Governor  Seward  can  not  con- 
centrate on  any  candidate  and  that  he  will  be  nominated." 

When  the  convention  on  Friday  began  its  third  day's 
session,  the  Seward  men  were  still  confident.  They 
seemed  to  regard  Seward's  nomination  as  a  foregone 
conclusion,  and  were  now  casting  about  for  a  satisfac- 
tory running  mate. 


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CHAPTER  XV. 

WHAT    HAPPENED    IN    THE    CONVENTION  —  LINCOLN    THE 

VICTOR. 

The  convention  was  held  in  the  old  "  Wigwam,"  a 
building  erected  for  the  occasion  at  the  corner  of  Market 
and  Lake  streets.  Eleven  thousand  persons  packed  the 
Wigwam.  On  the  floor  of  the  convention  were  some  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  nation.  In  the  galler- 
ies, hundreds  of  women,  ''  gay  in  the  high-peaked,  flower- 
filled  bonnets  and  bright  shawls  and  plaids  of  the  day," 
added  to  the  brilliancy  of  the  scene.  Outside,  surging  in 
the  streets,  were  from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  persons, 
eagerly  awaiting  some  word  of  the  proceedings  within, 
shouted  down  by  sentinels  from  the  top  of  the  building. 

There  were  no  nominating  speeches  —  only  the  formal 
presentation  of  candidates'  names.  Norman  B.  Judd,  in 
presenting  Lincoln's  name,  said : 

"  Mr.  President,  I  beg  leave  to  offer  as  a  candidate 
before  this  convention  for  President  of  the  United  States 
the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois." 

That  was  all.  No  fulsome  eulogy,  no  long-winded 
speech.    The  time  for  action  had  arrived. 

There  was  a  demonstration  as  each  candidate  was 
placed  in  nomination.  The  Seward  men  set  up  a  deafen- 
ing shout,  so  loud  and  long  that  it  momentarily  discon- 

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How  Abraham  Lincoln   Became   President.  87 

certed  the  Lincoln  men.  But  they  quickly  recovered,  and 
when  Indiana  seconded  Lincoln's  nomination  pandemo- 
nium broke  loose.  It  was  evident  that  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  crowd  in  the  galleries  was  for  "  Old  Abe." 
"  No  language  can  describe  it,"  wrote  Leonard  Swett, 
describing  the  scene.  "A  thousand  steam  whistles,  a 
tribe  of  Comanches,  headed  by  a  choice  vanguard  from 
pandemonium,  might  have  mingled  in  the  scene  unno- 
ticed." 

The  balloting  proceeded  rapidly.  The  first  ballot 
resulted :  Seward,  1733^ ;  Lincoln,  102 ;  Cameron, 
50^;  Chase,  49;  Bates,  48;  Dayton,  14;  McLean,  12; 
Collamer,  10;   scattering,  6. 

There  being  no  choice,  the  second  ballot  was  pro- 
ceeded with,  after  Simon  Cameron's  name  had  been  with- 
drawn. This  ballot  resulted:  Seward,  i84>4  ;  Lincoln, 
181;  Chase,  421^;  Bates,  35 ;  Dayton,  10;  McLean,  8 ; 
scattering,  4. 

The  third  ballot  proceeded  amid  breathless  silence. 
As  the  last  State  was  called,  Lincoln  had  230^^  votes, 
or  within  1^/2  votes  of  the  number  necessary  to  nominate 
him.  Before  the  result  was  announced  Mr.  Carter,  of 
Ohio,  arose  and  corrected  the  vote  of  that  State,  giving 
Lincoln  four  more  votes,  or  23^2  more  than  the  required 
number. 

Lincoln  was  nominated,  and  now  followed  a  wild 
struggle  to  "  get  into  the  band-wagon."  State  after 
State  changed  its  vote  to  Lincoln.  As  finally  announced 
the  third  ballot  stood:    Lincoln,  354;   Seward,  iio>4. 

The  men  on  the  roof  bellowed  down  to  the  people  in 
the  streets  that  Lincoln  was  nominated.    "  The  first  roar 


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How  Abraham   Lincoln   Became   President.  89 

of  cannon,"  says  the  New  York  Tribune's  account,  "  soon 
mingled  itself  with  the  cheers  of  the  people,  and  the  same 
moment  a  man  appeared  in  the  hall  bringing  a  large 
painting  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  *  *  *  Two  cannons  sent 
forth  roar  after  roar  in  quick  succession.  Delegates  tore 
up  the  stakes  and  boards  bearing  the  names  of  the  sev- 
eral States  and  waved  them  aloft  over  their  heads,  and 
the  vast  multitude  before  the  platform  were  waving  hats 
and  handkerchiefs." 

It  was  alleged  afterward  that  the  Lincoln  managers, 
having  charge  of  admissions,  had  packed  the  galleries 
with  shouters  for  "  Old  Abe."  "  I  do  not  believe  the 
convention  was  unfairly  '  packed  '  in  Lincoln's  interest," 
says  Senator  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  who  was  present. 
"  True,  Lincoln's  friends  had  charge  of  the  Wigwam, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  tickets  of  admission  were 
judiciously  distributed  by  them,  and  Lincoln  had  the  gal- 
leries with  him.  That  was  inevitable,  owing  to  the  loca- 
tion of  the  convention  in  Chicago.  But  the  cheering  for 
Lincoln  was  not  the  result  of  any  prearranged  plan :  it 
was  spontaneous ;  it  was  infectious,  too,  and  it  captured 
the  convention."  (Statement  of  Senator  Cullom  to  the 
author.) 

While  the  national  convention  was  in  progress,  Mr. 
Lincoln  remained  in  Springfield  and  without  apparent 
excitement  or  anxiety  awaited  the  news  from  Chicago. 
Once  or  twice  he  joined  in  a  game  of  "  hand  ball,"  then 
the  favorite  pastime  of  the  professional  men  of  the  town. 
On  Friday  morning  (the  day  of  the  nomination),  he 
called  at  the  office  of  James  C.  Conkling,  a  prominent 
lawyer,    threw    himself    upon    a    lounge    and    remarked 


90  How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became  President. 

rather  wearily :  "  Well,  Jim,  I  guess  I'll  go  back  to  prac- 
ticing law."  Mr.  Conkling  had  just  returned  from  Chi- 
cago, and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  anxious  to  know  what  he 
thought  of  the  outlook. 

"  I  told  him  the  tendency  was  to  drop  Seward,"  says 
Mr.  Conkling  —  "  that  the  outlook  was  very  encouraging. 
He  listened  attentively  and  thanked  me.  *  *  *  He 
was  not  very  sanguine  of  the  result.  He  did  not  express 
the  opinion  that  he  would  be  nominated."  (Statement  of 
James  C.  Conkling  to  the  author  in  1896.) 

After  leaving  Mr.  Conkling's  office,  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
gone  to  the  dry  goods  store  of  Ninian  W.  Edwards  & 
Co.,  on  an  errand  for  Mrs.  Lincoln.  "  I  had  started 
out,"  Mr.  Lincoln  afterward  told  a  friend,  T.  W.  S.  Kidd, 
"and  'Jack'  Smith  (a  member  of  the  firm)  walked  to 
the  door  with  me.  As  we  stood  there  talking  I  heard  a 
shout  go  up  near  the  telegraph  office.  Then  Jim  Conk- 
ling's oldest  boy  came  running  up  and  told  me  I  was 
nominated.  That  was  the  first  I  knew  of  it."  "  Jim 
Conkling's  oldest  boy,"  who  thus  "  notified  "  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, was  Clinton  L.  Conkling,  now  a  prominent  lawyer 
of  Springfield. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  in  a  few  minutes,  was  surrounded  by 
friends,  who  came  hurrying  up  to  congratulate  him.  He 
thanked  them,  but  said  he  "  must  be  going."  "  There  is 
a  little  woman  down  on  Eighth  street,"  said  he,  "  and  I 
must  go  and  tell  her  about  this." 

Very  soon  after  the  Chicago  convention,  it  became 
clear  to  the  country  that  the  Republicans  had  named  their 
strongest  man.  The  fence  rails  that  "  Dick "  Oglesby 
and  old  John  Hanks  had  hauled  in  from  the  Sangamon 


How  Abraham  Lincoln  Became   President.  91 

bottom  and  that  had  electrified  the  State  convention  at 
Decatur  were  now  to  make  their  appeal  to  the  popular 
fancy. 

"  Mr.  Lincoln's  romantic  personal  history,"  wrote 
Horace  Greeley  in  the  Tribune,  "  his  eloquence  as  an 
orator,  and  his  firm  personal  integrity,  give  augury  of 
a  successful  campaign  —  one  of  the  1840  stamp." 

It  proved  to  be  far  more  unique  and  impressive  than 
the  "  hard  cider "  campaign  of  1840.  The  fence-rail 
was  everywhere  in  evidence.  It  was  carried  aloft  in 
parades;  flaming  banners  fluttered  from  it  at  rallies; 
glee  clubs  sang  its  praises ;  campaign  clubs  called  them- 
selves "Rail  Splitters"  and  "Rail  Maulers";  and 
brawny-armed  men  mounted  on  huge  wagons  split  rails 
as  the  procession  moved  along. 

Quickly  the  story  of  Lincoln  came  out  —  the  story 

which  two  years  earlier  he  had  declared  "  would  interest 

no  one  "  —  the  marvelous  story  of  his  meek  and  lowly 

birth,  his  struggles,  his  triumphs  —  and  the  world  was 

amazed. 

******* 

The  momentous  events  of  the  succeeding  months  — 
the  eventful  campaign  of  i860,  with  the  Democracy 
divided  between  Douglas  at  the  North  and  Breckenridge 
at  the  South  —  the  election  of  Lincoln  in  November  and 
the  gathering  storm  of  secession  —  can  not  be  narrated 
at  length  in  this  little  volume.  Responsibility  weighed 
heavily  upon  the  President-elect  as  he  prepared  for  his 
departure  for  Washington. 


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CHAPTER    XVI. 

FAREWELL  ! 

On  a  somber  morning  in  February,  1861,  Mr.  Lincoln, 
accompanied  by  his  family  and  others,  took  his  leave  for 
the  national  capital.  Several  hundred  of  his  neighbors  — 
men  and  women  whom  he  had  known  almost  a  lifetime  — 
gathered  at  the  old  Great  Western  station.  Mr.  Lincoln 
came  out  of  the  car  and,  standing  on  the  rear  platform, 
thus  spoke  with  deep  emotion : 

"  My  Friends :  No  one  not  in  my  situation  can  appreciate 
my  feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this  place  and  the  kind- 
ness of  these  people  I  owe  everything.  Here  I  have  lived  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old 
man.  Here  my  children  have  been  born,  and  one  is  buried.  I 
now  leave,  not  knowing  when  or  whether  ever  I  may  return,  with 
a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which  rested  upon  Washington. 
Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  attended 
him,  I  can  not  succeed.  With  that  assistance,  T  can  not  fail. 
Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go  with  me,  and  remain  with  you,  and 
be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope  that  all  will  yet 
be  well.  To  His  care  commending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your  prayers 
you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell." 

The  train  rolled  slowly  away  to  the  eastward.  A 
little  city  in  a  western  State  was  sending  its  first  citizen 
to  become  the  greatest  President  of  the  greatest  republic 
of  the  world. 


93 


